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Page 8 TERRACE BAY/SCHREIBER NEWS Wednesday, April 12, 1989 Pouliot believes conservation CP should open up. officers underpaid for work Lake Nipigon M.P.P. Gilles Pouliot is fighting the provincial government on behalf of Conservation Officers who work for the Ministry of Natural Resources. Pouliot believes these officers are underpaid for the work they perform. Negotiations have been going on for over two years now to reclassify Conservation Officers and to bring their wages more in line with the duties they perform. Here are the views of. Pouliot as expressed in a recent letter to the Minister of Natural Resources, Vince Kerrio. I am writing on behalf of over 240 Conservation Officers (Game Wardens) throughout Ontario who are responsible for law enforcement and protection of our fish, game and fur resources in this province. The Classification Conservation Officer is enshrined in Ministry lexicography by virtue of Section 7 of the Ontario Fish and Game Act. They are Peace Officers and recognized as such by our Courts and in many cases act as their own prosecutors which is not required of police officers. In addition they are solely responsible for enforcement of all wildlife resource oriented legisla- tion by investigating violations, gathering and presenting evi- dence in Court, processing enforcement documents, offence reports, Crown briefs and sum- monses. They also liaise with Crown Attorneys, Judges, Justices of the Peace and Court administrators. In the field they carry sidearms and in some cases bullet proof vests while conducting undercov- er operations, surveillance and intelligence. They are subject to call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are often called at home by well meaning sportsmen wish- ing to report an infraction of our game laws or obscene calls from law breakers. Their duties require them to approach, often alone, a potential offender who is invariably armed with a firearm, knife or spear. They often spend many lonely nights behind the wheel of a vehi- cle or staked out in the bush over an illegal kill in cold, wet weather without contact with the outside world. Mr. Minister, does the above sound to you, personally, like the duties of a resource technician? Have you compared their duties to that of an O.P.P. or R.C.M.P. Officer, or a Canadian Wildlife Service or Fisheries and Oceans Officer? Conservation Officer compen- sation for the past three years is only 79 percent of the average of those performing identical UTI os nr DISTRICT 6 The United Steelworkers are interested in hearing from the widows of deceased miners who have died from lung cancers and other industrial diseases, as well as surviving miners themselves who presently have lung cancers and industrial diseases. We are collecting information in order to determine eligibility for Workers' Compensation Board under the existing law. You can reach us at: 19-929 Fort William Road Lakehead Labour Centre Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 3A6 Telephone: (807) 344-6961 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday All information will be kept strictly confidential. enforcement in the above men- tioned agencies. Your ministry's Director of Human Resources takes the posi- tion that they wish to be seen as resource managers and not policemen. He has stated that your main business is not to catch poachers but to maintain resources. This is tantamount to telling a policeman that his primary responsibility is to protect life and property, and not to catch criminals. Tell that to the people of Ontario, tell that to poachers, tell that to Conservation Officers, who have been assaulted by dead- ly weapons in the course of carry- ing out their responsibilities as resource managers on our behalf. These resource managers are the backbone of your ministry's law enforcement, recognized as fellow officers by the police and the courts. They assist other law enforcement agencies in search- ing for criminals, and stolen prop- erty, and marijuana plantations, setting up road blocks, arresting suspects, transporting prisoners and in return are often shot at in the performance of their duties. They are required to success- fully complete a course of study at a Community College and the Ontario Police College as well as proficiency standards relating to sidearm training. For their trouble and their ded- ication, they are paid $11,000 per year less than an O.P.P. constable. The above enforcement responsibilities are far in excess of those required of a resource technician with much greater dan- ger and commitment needed to protect our precious wildlife TeSOUICES. Please do the sensible and honorable thing in this important resource management function by compensating our Conservation Officers commensurate with other enforcement agencies and reflect- ing their contributions to wise resource management. THAT'S HOW MANY CANADIANS ARE FIGURE SKATERS pyre Conte! G Public Invitation SUPERIOR NORTH BUS and the The President and Directors of the SCHREIBER-TERRACE BAY COMMUNITY FUTURES ORGANIZATION INESS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE Extend to you an invitation to attend the opening ceremonies of their new offices at 13 Simcoe Plaza, Terrace Bay, Ontario on Friday, April 21st at three o'clock Refreshments 2 to 4 Continued from page 4 conclusion be drawn that the facts are not the same? What does CP have to hide? By not being willing to face the media and be totally forthcoming with them, it seems apparent CP has some information they don't want made public. CP has broken several sections of the agreement they - entered into with the township of Schreiber on July 20, 1988. Obviously they don't want that fact made public as it's bad press for them. What else are they covering up that might be bad press? It's fair to say that no company wants bad press from the media, but by not being open and honest, and dealing with the media responsibly, they merely bring more bad press upon themselves. Dealing with the media openly and honestly may bring to light some undesirable aspects of their operation, but at least it would be said CP is trying to respond to questions that deserve answers. In a society which often relies on the media to be a _ watchdog for various activities, a defender of democratic rights and principals, the public's right to know has been limited in this instance. As Joan LeBlanc states in the letter to the editor on page four, "One of my strongest allies is public awareness and information. In my view, "they" attempted to take away this right of information by denying access to a direct and far reaching public source." Since CP said they weren't prepared to deal with the media at the present time, consider this an invitation to call me when you're ready to have an open and honest discussion regarding all the facts concerning the mineral transfer facility. The public's right to know is not a privilege, it is a right and as such all questions should be answered and open to reporting by the media. Does Canada Post deserve congratulations By Ann M. Smith It used to be that the only time we ever heard from the good folks at Canada Post Corporation was when they wanted more money from the beleaguered, taxpaying Canadian postal-user. For most of us that was often enough, thank you very much. Back in 1983, you'll recall, the Cor- poration garnered an awful lot of pub- lic attention with its now-famous quantum leap of faith that catapulted the cost of mailing a letter from 17 cents to 32 cents. Then just two years later the price of stamps rose again . .. this time 2 cents to 34 cents. And again in 1987 . . . another 2 cents to 36 cents. And again in 1988. . . this time the cost went up a penny to bring the grand total to 37 cents. And, of course, the most recent hike came at the beginning of this year . . . (what the heck?) another one cent increase. At 38 cents per first-class letter, Cana- dians are very likely the proud owners of the most expensive stamp in the world. Hold the applause. As long as we're at it, why not also remind ourselves of the umpteen postal disruptions during this same, shall we say, "inflationary" period? With ap- . proximately 60 disruptions since 1965 (including the 42-day full-scale walk- . out in 1981), the Canadian postal sys- tem holds a world record worthy of dope-testing. In short, we pay through the nose for a strike-prone, unreliable system of postal delivery. A recent series of television and newspaper ads running across the country, however, would obviously have us believe differently. "Some time ago," read the enormously expensive, full-scale. print ads, "Canada Post made a commitment to all Canadians. We promised you better, more reliable postal service. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. 'We're happy to report our progress with some recent records that might surprise you. According to a report published in January of this year, properly prepared mail is delivered within major cities in 2 days or less 92 per cent of the time."' The ad campaign running on television pictures the popular, all- Canadian beaver stamp standing on its head and, as the commercial message is delivered ('* . . . 92 per cent is good. But it's not good enough."'), the beaver begins to turn itself figura- tively and literally around. In the midst of this glitzy and expensive approach to the new '"'Let's Pat Ourselves on the Back" campaign, it seems that Canada Post has missed the point: no business de- serves congratulations for providing the services it is paid to provide-- especially at our expense. As tax- payers and postal users, Canadians from coast to coast will pick up the tab for this largely self-congratulatory campaign. What's even more galling is that many postal observers are calling the ads a prelude to another so0n-to-be-announced rate hike. Pre- sumably the rationale for this approach is to tell us they're finally doing the job adequately and then hope that no one will object to paying even more for doing business with this monopoly-controlled system. It isn't enough to simply high- gloss a largely tarnished image with expensive words and pictures. If Canada Post is serious about build- ing a long term, dependable postal system, they'll need more than a good advertising campaign. They obviously have the latter but as for the former, we'll just have to wait and see.